Beach Vaction
by Lady Elizabeth of New York
Summary: Marlene's mum bought a beach house in Greece. She invites Alice, Dorcas, Lily and the Marauders to spend the summer there. One thing is for sure, this will be a summer that they will remember for a long time. James/Lily Sirius/Marlene Remus/Dorcas Frank/Alice
1. Who Wants to go to the Beach?

Marlene scanned the letter quickly as she walked down the corridor to the Great Hall. Her footsteps quickened as she read farther down the letter and her lips unfolded into a wide smile. A beach house in Greece! Why hadn't her mum told her about it before? She shook her head in disbelief, still grinning as she read the last line of the letter;

_Have fun sweetie and be careful, I'll try to meet you there toward the end of the summer. XOXO  
-Your mother_

Marlene felt a flicker of annoyance at her mum, if she had known about the house sooner she would have had so much more time to plan. But she supposed it really wasn't that big of a deal. And the gift of spending the entire summer with her friends in Greece far outweighed the inconvenience of being told on such a short notice.

Marlene sauntered into the Great Hall, earning a few wary glances from the staff table. She smiled innocently up at them, hoping they would understand that the spring in her step would not lead to any shenanigans today, and made a bee-line for the Gryffindor table.

"Guess what?" Marlene asked cheerfully as she plopped herself down between Lily and Alice.

"What?" Lily asked, eating the last of her lunch.

"Guess," Marlene repeated, her eyes were sparkling with glee. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. When Marlene was this excited, Marlene wouldn't let it go unless she played along.

"Sirius and you are getting married," Lily guessed. It was really a horrible guess. Everyone knew that Sirius was scared of even the word marriage. In fact, overhearing this remark, Sirius jumped up and shouted:

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Oh would you calm down, you twit. Lily was just joking," she snapped before turning back to Lily, "No, my Mum is letting me use her beach house for the whole summer."

"A beach house, you say?" James and Sirius suddenly appeared, nearly knocking poor Frank out of his seat. "Where?"

"In Greece. On the island of Samos to be exact," Marlene replied nonchalantly. Everyone in earshot's eyes widened, "Why? Are you interested in going?"

"Doll, did I ever tell you how beautiful, sexy and smart you are?" Sirius gushed. Marlene laughed at his obvious attempt at flattery.

"I dunno. I'm not sure there will be enough room for you, Sirius," Marlene told him with false sincerity.

"What if I sweeten the deal, Miss McKinnon?" Sirius asked in a sultry voice, leaning over the table. Marlene batted her eyelashes at him.

"And how will you do that, Mr. Black?" she purred.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," James remarked, gagging slightly. For once Lily agreed with him. Marlene and Sirius could be so sickening sometimes, she was glad she had already finished her lunch.

"So are we all invited to your beach house then?" Alice asked eagerly.

For a minute, Lily was confused and she wondered why Alice was so eager to go to the beach. Alice normally hated the beach because of the seaweed and the sand that seemed to get everywhere.

Then Lily remembered that Frank's mother had invited her to stay at their house for the summer. Lily guessed that Alice would pick the beach over spending time with Augusta Longbottom any day.

"Yes, all of you are invited. My mother doesn't care how many people I have over as long as I don't break anything," Marlene answered.

"Wait, your mother isn't going to be there?" Lily inquired, horrified at the idea that there would be no adult supervision.

"No, unfortunately she is going to Spain with some of her friends," Marlene answered. She sighed when she saw Lily's appalled face, "Come on, Lily, we are almost seventeen. We are practically adults. Besides it'll be no fun without you."

"You mean it will be no fun with her," Sirius muttered, earning him a slap from Alice and James.

"My parents won't allow me to…" Lily began.

"Then lie," Alice snapped. Lily gave her a look, "I'm sorry but you know Frank won't be able to go. Marlene and Dorcas will be too busy making out with their boyfriends. And I'll be all alone with Potter and Peter."

"Hey! Nothing wrong with us!" James exclaimed. Alice ignored him and sent Lily a pleading look.

"Fine but I don't like this at all," Lily said firmly.

"All right. I'll go tell Moony, Wormtail and Dorcas the great news," Sirius told them, flashing Marlene a winning smile as he removed himself from the table. With exams coming up Peter needed all the help he could get so Sirius decided to begin the search for his companions in the library.

"So Evans, are you going to buy a bikini for this trip?" James asked her with an impish grin.

"In your dreams, Potter," Lily snapped.

"Actually, in my dreams you are wearing nothing," James explained matter-of-factly. Lily made disgusted noise before walking away.

"She wants me," James said dreamily.

Marlene and Alice rolled their eyes before leaving the Gryffindor table to go after their friend.

* * *

Once everyone had sent a letter to their parents all that was left to do was wait.

James' parents' letter came right away. To Lily's surprise, all they said was for James (and for Sirius) to try to behave. The rest of the letter was just them saying how much they would miss the two boys and they hoped the boys would have lots of fun. Lily wondered why Mr. and Mrs. Potter were so trusting of the most troublesome boys Lily knew.

Alice told her parents the truth as well. Lily was shocked to discover that not only did Alice's parents trust their daughter fully; they even offered to convince Augusta Longbottom to let Frank go.

After Remus got a similar letter, Lily was beginning to wonder if she was the only one with strict parents.

Thankfully Dorcas and Peter's parents seemed a little move suspicious and demanded that they send them weekly letter updates.

Lily's hand kept shaking as she wrote to her parents, so Marlene had to write her letter for her. Lily thought for sure that her parents would see right through her lie. However, she was relived and a little guilty when her parents sent her a letter back telling her to have lots of fun and to be careful.

After that the last two weeks flew by. Even the exams could not spoil the teenagers' mood. Lily had to admit that she was very excited for this trip and she too was happy when school was finally over.

They all boarded the Hogwarts Express and talked excitedly about what they were going to do when they got there.

"Mum said that we have our own private beach. And apparently there is a ranch somewhere down the road where we can ride muggle horses," Marlene was telling them.

"Aw, I really wish I was going," Frank said sadly, "That sounds fun."

"Sorry sweetie. My parents tried to convince your mother but you know how she is," Alice commented.

"Okay, we're almost at Kings' Cross station. I already arranged the portkeys with my Dad. There should be four of them. Dad said they would be a hairbrush, an old can of tomato soup, a bowler hat and a sock," Marlene explained, "He will meet us at the platform so we can find them."

"This is going to be the best vacation ever!" Sirius exclaimed, with a large grin.


	2. Plans

James yawned and stretched as he walked down the stairs, he was following the lovely smell of bacon and scrambled eggs. In the kitchen was Lily. She turned her head as he walked in.

"Morning Potter, you're up really early. I thought you liked to sleep in," Lily remarked.

"What? No, I usually run around this time. You know I like to keep fit and do lots of exercise. Keeps my body in perfect shape," James bragged. Lily rolled her eyes and gave him a knowing look. "Okay. During the summer, Mum makes me get up and help the house elves make breakfast."

"Thought so," Lily chuckled.

"So, do you need any help?" James asked.

"Yes, actually. If you could help me with the pancake batter that would be great," Lily told him, handing him a whisk. James took it and started mixing the batter. Lily turned back to the scrambled eggs.

"So how come you're cooking?" James questioned.

"Well, I always get up this early. And I saw that no one else was awake. So I thought I'd get a head start with breakfast. I sometimes cook at home with my mum. She always told me that cooking was the quickest way to get to a man's heart," Lily explained with a fond smile.

"And whose heart are you planning on getting to, Miss Evans?" James asked with a smirk as he poured the batter into the pan, "Do you have someone in mind? Perhaps a black haired, bespectacled Gryffindor chaser?"

Lily laughed, "In your dreams, Potter."

"Hey, is it just me or are we actually talking like normal people?" James remarked.

"Well it'sit helps that you're not being obnoxious by asking me out," Lily replied.

"How am I obnoxious just by asking you out?" James inquired.

Lily arched her eyebrows before answering, "Because you ask it like you're doing me a favor."

A hopeful gleam rooted itself in James' eyes, "So you're saying if I asked you out like Frank asked Alice out, you'd go out with me?" he clarified. Before Lily could say anything, Sirius strolled into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Prongs and Lily-flower! What's for breakfast?" he asked with a grin, not even noticing his best friend's death glare.

"Great timing as usual," James grumbled.

"Um, bacon, scrambled eggs and pancakes," Lily answered.

"Sounds terrific. Just like James' mum used to make, right, Jamesie?" Sirius laughed, clapping James on the back.

"It's nearly ready, Sirius. So why don't you go into the dining room and wait for us," James suggested, giving Sirius a pleading look, hoping he would get the message. But James had forgotten just how oblivious his best friend was.

"Nah, I'll stay here and keep you guys company. I'm sure Evans doesn't want to spend her morning talking to you," Sirius joked. James made a mental note to kill Sirius for this later.

"Where is everyone?" Lily asked.

"Well Marlene is just getting dressed. Alice is in the shower. Peter is still asleep. Dorcas is also getting dressed. And Moony is in the library, doing what he always does, reading a book," Sirius answered.

* * *

A few hours later, after they had finished eating breakfast, Alice went to the living room to write a letter to Frank. She hadn't gotten very far when Lily called her name from the kitchen.

"Alice, where are you?" Lily called.

"In the living room," Alice shouted back. Lily came in a few moments later.

"Hey, Alice, I was wondering if you wanted to go kayaking with me. Marlene said that some muggles are doing that at the beach," Lily informed her with a smile, "It sounds like loads of fun."

"I'd love to, Lily but I need to write this letter to Frank. I promised to owl him as soon as I woke up and I'm running a little late," Alice told her apologetically, "Maybe you should ask Marlene to go with you."

"I can't. Sirius and she are occupied with taking out each other's tonsils," Lily said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Alice mirrored her expression.

"Okay, what about Dorcas?" Alice suggested.

"She went out to the market with Remus and Peter," Lily replied.

"How about James?" Alice asked.

"I don't know," Lily began.

"Come on, Lily. James, isn't that bad," Alice told her, "Besides he knows nothing about kayaking, so you won't hear him bragging."

"That's true," Lily said with a smile, "I'll go ask him."

Alice smiled and began to write to Frank.

_Dear my Frankie,_

_It's absolutely beautiful here. The house is enormous. Four floors and four rooms for each floor. There is even a library. You would love it. I love it, although, I miss you terribly._

_By the way, you owe me five galleons. Lily has agreed to spend some time with James. You mark my words, Frankie, they'll be dating by the end of the summer. With a little help from me of course._

* * *

"So what should we buy first?" Dorcas asked. Peter had gone to look for fruit while Dorcas and Remus went for the frozen meat aisle.

"Well I'm dying for some steak," Remus answered, practically drooling at the sight of the raw meat.

"Are you going to eat it off the cow or can we at least wait until we get home?" Dorcas joked. Remus glared at her. Dorcas was a wonderful friend and one of the few people who knew about his condition. But sometimes she was as bad as Sirius with all the jokes about his raw meat cravings.

"I can wait," he snapped.

"Because I'm sure we can find a cow if you're that hungry," Dorcas laughed. Remus shook his head at her. A grey haired woman bumped into Remus. She said excuse me before quickly disappearing in the crowd. Dorcas frowned. "Remus, that woman just dropped a piece of parchment in your basket."

"What?" Remus questioned confused. He picked up the parchment and read what was on it, "Oh my."

"What is it?" Dorcas asked curiously.

"It says 'child of the moon, come to us at midnight. We will be waiting for you in the forest just beyond the market,'" Remus explained, "How did she know what I was? And do you think she is too?"

"Well first of all, you were drooling at the raw steak," Dorcas reminded him, "And I don't think she would have just guessed it unless she was one. You should go meet her and her friends."

"What? What do you mean I should go?" Remus asked.

"Remus, you always say how isolated and alone you are. This might be a chance to meet people like you," Dorcas replied, "And they might go eat a cow with you." Remus gave her a scathing look.

"Would you knock it off?"

"Sorry, I can't."


	3. Having Fun

"So what do we do?" James asked as they stood on the beach, next to two bright yellow kayaks.

"Well first we push the kayaks into the water and then we get into them and then we start paddling, I guess," Lily answered, wishing she had read more about what kayaking was about.

"That's it? That doesn't sound very exciting," James remarked.

"Then don't do it," Lily snapped, glaring at the dark haired boy beside her. "I'll go by myself."

"No need to get angry," James muttered.

"I'm sorry. I'm not mad," Lily huffed, more irritated with herself than with James, "I'm just frustrated because I don't know much about kayaking either," she admitted softly.

"Well we're not going to learn by just standing around here," James remarked. "Let's get started."

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear," a young woman remarked as she walked up to them. "I can help you learn if you would like. I'm Jasmine and I actually teach kayaking, canoeing, sailing and swimming," her honey-sweet voice dripped with poorly concealed pride.

This girl had only spoken one sentence and already Lily didn't like her.

"Wow, you must really like the water. I'm James Potter," James told her, shaking her hand. Jasmine giggled, tossing a wave of dark curls over her shoulder; she locked eyes with James and for a moment the two just stared at each other. Lily wondered if they knew that she was still here.

"I love any kind of sport, really. But in the summer, I like to keep cool," Jasmine said, resuming their conversation and offering a dazzling smile. "From the looks of it, you must play a sport too. You look very toned and fit." Jasmine's dark eyes trailed slowly over James's uncovered torso and Lily suppressed her desire to hex this Exotic-Wonder into next week.

"Yeah, I'm kind of a star on my Quid-basketball team," James bragged, smiling at her. His small slip went unnoticed by girl in front of him, who seemed to be putting a little too much effort into batting her long, thick eyelashes.

"Really? Well we must get a drink sometime. I'd love to hear all about it," Jasmine said sweetly. "Now would you like to begin kayaking?"

"Sure. Lily, you ready?" James asked Lily.

"You know what. You guys go ahead. I need to take a walk," Lily answered, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. But from the worried look on James' face, she hadn't fooled him.

"Are you sure?" James questioned.

"Yep. I'll see you back at the house," Lily replied, walking away quickly so James wouldn't stop her.

* * *

Alice drummed her fingers against the windowsill as she looked out the window. She was searching the sky for an owl, more specifically, Frank's owl. She had sent him an owl four hours ago and he hadn't written back.

Alice heard the door open and shut and Marlene's voice call her name.

"In the living room," she shouted back. Marlene walked into the room."Hey, I thought you and Sirius were going horseback riding for another hour," Alice remarked.

"We were, but we sorta got into a fight," Marlene explained, fussing unnecessarily with the hem of her shirt and refusing to meet Alice's eyes.

"Oh no," Alice said horrified, knowing exactly where this was going. "Marlene, you promised." Before Alice had agreed to going on this vacation, she had made Marlene swear not to get into an argument with Sirius. Because that always lead into the couple temporarily breaking up, and Sirius and Marlene were always dragging their friends into their fights.

"I know. I'm sorry. But he was totally flirting with that girl," Marlene said crossly. "Besides you know why my mum and dad split up. I don't want the same thing happening to me."

"What? You're not your parents," Alice told her firmly. "Come on Marlene, you're different people."

Marlene plopped angrily onto the couch. "Are we, Alice? Are WE?" Marlene asked, her voice getting louder. "My dad dumped my mother for a twenty year old floozy and my mum is a shopaholic. Now let's compare that with Sirius who flirts with every girl he sees and me who has been known to shop when I'm depressed."

"Okay, good point but that doesn't mean that you're the same. It just means you have the same qualities," Alice said. Marlene gave her an annoyed look. "I'm not helping, am I?"

"No. No, you're not," Marlene agreed.

* * *

"What do you think they'll be like?" Dorcas wondered aloud as they walked up the road towards the house.

"Who?" Remus asked.

"The werewolves," Dorcas replied. "Do you think they all have silver or grey hair?" She asked, eyes widening slightly at the thought.

"Um, about meeting the werewolves," Remus began. Dorcas stopped walking and gave him a look.

"You don't want to go, do you?" she guessed.

"For all we know, they could all be like Greyback and are only interested in infecting others with their disease," Remus remarked.

"Oh come on, Remus. Aren't you curious, just a little bit curious, to know what they are like? They're like you, Remus. And you always say that no one understands you. Are you really going to pass up an opportunity to meet people who are going through the same thing you are?" Dorcas asked, a slight pout on her lips.

"No," Remus said unsure. Dorcas gave him a skeptical look.

"Are you telling me that you don't want to meet people who are just like you? Who get what you're going through?" Dorcas questioned.

Remus sighed. "Fine. That's a good point. But I have to go alone, okay? I don't want you coming with me in case they're like Greyback," Remus said sternly. Dorcas smiled triumphantly at him and they resumed walking.

"Hey Remus, did we forget something at the store? I keep getting this feeling that we have forgotten something," Dorcas remarked, her brow crinkling in thought.

"Me too. But what could we have forgotten…." Remus trailed off as both he and Dorcas' eyes widened in horror as they realized who they had forgotten.

"Peter!"

* * *

Peter sighed as he sat on the rough steps in front of the store. He had been sitting there for an hour. It seemed that Dorcas and Remus had forgotten him. The sun was beginning to set so Peter decided, he better start walking home.

As he got up, he bumped into a pretty blonde haired girl.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," the girl told him as she helped pick up the bags on the ground. All of the groceries had toppled from Peter's hands in their small collision.

"It's okay," Peter replied with a nervous smile. "I'm Peter."

"I'm Helena. So Peter, I haven't seen you around here before. Did you just move here or something?" Helena asked conversationally. She took one of the bags. "Here let me help you carry these. They look heavy."

"Thank you, and no. I'm just here with some friends. We're vacationing here," Peter answered.

"Oh I see. Well if you want I can show you around sometime," Helena offered with a bright smile.

"Thanks. That be great," Peter told her. His heart rate quickened at her smile and he found himself completely dazzled by her bright blue eyes. Wait, was she batting her eyelashes at him? He pinched the skin on the inside of his wrist. Nope, not dreaming.

"Where do you live? I'll carry the bags there," Helena remarked.

"Oh no, that's not necessary," Peter said softly, silently hoping she would not listen to him.

"I insist."

"Well it's about five miles away. My friends and I appa-drove," Peter answered. In his excitement he narrowly avoided giving himself away.

"Oh so you're wizards," Helena commented with a relived smile, having caught his mistake. "My brother would have my head if he thought I was talking to a muggle. In that case, how about you apparate home and I'll meet you here tomorrow?"

"Okay. That sounds great," Peter replied.

"See you around, Peter," Helena told him, handing him his bags and flashing another brilliant smile. Peter smiled back at her before apparating back home.

* * *

Alice yawned as she stared out the window. It was midnight and Frank had still not sent her a letter. She was getting worried.

The door opened and Lily walked in.

"Wow, Alice, this is the same place I left you ten hours ago," Lily remarked with a chuckle.

"Where the hell have you been, Lily? You missed dinner," Alice told her crossly, mostly out of annoyance at Frank, but a part of her had been worried about Lily too. "James said you didn't go kayaking with him."

"I just didn't want to disturb his lesson with _Jasmine_ so I took a walk," Lily answered. Alice raised her eyebrow.

"For six hours?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah, well I wanted to think some things over," Lily replied, trying hard not to sound defensive.

"And that has nothing to with the fact that James was kayaking with a hot girl," Alice said with a smirk.

"No, it does not," Lily snapped, glaring at her. "I'm going to grab something to eat. Did you leave leftovers?"

"On the counter in the kitchen," Alice answered with a knowing smile before she went back to searching the pitch black sky for Frank's owl.


	4. Up All Night

Alice walked gingerly across the hallway, she was careful not to wake anyone up as she went to Dorcas' room. She carefully opened the door and tip toed in, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"Dorcas, are you awake?" she whispered. Dorcus snored in response. Alice walked over to Dorcas' bed. "Dorcas?" she called, a little louder. Dorcas still slept. Then Alice shook her, waking her up.

"Whhhhhat?" Dorcas groaned.

"Oh good, you're up," Alice said happily, sitting on the bed. "I have to talk to you."

"You have to talk to me at three in the morning?" Dorcas snapped, jerking the comforter over her head.

"Yes. Frank still hasn't answered my letter," Alice told her. "It's been twenty hours and he still hasn't replied. What could be keeping him from writing to me? What if he doesn't want to write to me? What if he wants to break up?"

Even muffled by the blanket barrier between them Dorcas could hear the note of hysteria rising in Alice's voice. "Alice, calm down," Dorcas said gently as she wiggled her way out of the comforter cocoon and propped her pillow up against the headboard so she could sit up. "You're going to start hyperventilating if you keep worrying about this."

"But why hasn't he answered my letter. We promised to write every day," Alice said softly.

"Maybe his mum is working him so hard that he didn't have time to write," Dorcas suggested, biting back a sarcastic reminder that twenty hours was not a full day yet anyway .

"That's probably what it is," Alice agreed joyfully. "He's was just too busy. He'll definitely write a letter in the morning. In fact I'll go down and wait for it!" Alice exclaimed. She hugged Dorcas and ran down the stairs.

Dorcas sighed and rested her head on the pillow, hoping to go back to sleep as soon as she could.

Unfortunately for her, someone knocked on her door and walked in.

"Dorcas? Are you awake?" Remus asked. Dorcas groaned.

"Why do you people hate sleep?" she questioned annoyed, sitting up. "What's wrong, Remus?"

"I couldn't sleep. I keep thinking about the werewolves," Remus told her. "What if they want to recruit me for the Death Eaters?"

"Then you politely tell them no," Dorcas mumbled. Remus stared at her. "I'm sorry. I'm half asleep. Ask me that question when I'm fully awake. I promise I'll be able to tell you something then."

"I'm just worried. The only werewolf, I ever meet was Greyback, and we didn't exactly get along," Remus remarked. "I know that being a werewolf is nothing to be ashamed of but I can't help but wonder if they're all like Greyback."

"They can't be all like him," Dorcas assured him, rubbing the back of his hand to soothe him.

"How do you know that?" Remus asked.

"Because you're nothing like him," Dorcas replied sweetly with a small smile. Remus smiled back at her.

* * *

Lily tip-toed across the hallway, making sure she didn't wake anyone up. She opened Marlene's door and walked in.

"Marlene?" she whispered. Marlene groaned. "Marlene, can I talk to you?"

"Yes, you can… in the morning," Marlene hissed.

"I really need to talk to you now," Lily told her. "It's about-"

"Lily, for goodness sake!" Marlene interrupted. "It's three in the morning and I need my beauty sleep. Therefore, unless this is a life or death situation, I don't care. Now go to bed and leave me alone, okay?"

"Okay," Lily said softly. "All I wanted to say was I like James but if you're too tired to listen. I'll just go to bed." Lily walked to the door and just as she was going to turn the knob, her words sunk in and Marlene shot up like a rocket.

"GET BACK HERE, MISSY!" she shouted. Lily shushed her.

"Marlene, calm down. You'll wake up the whole house with your screaming," Lily told her calmly.

"Are you telling that after almost seven years, you like James?" Marlene asked, dumbfounded.

"I don't know," Lily answered.

"How can you not know?"

"Well I think I do. All I know is I had a nice conversation with him yesterday morning and then when we were down at the beach, there was this girl flirting with him and I wanted to scratch her eyes out," Lily replied quickly, hoping the it was too dark for Marlene to see the light blush on her cheeks.

"Oh dear Merlin, you like James," Marlene giggled. Lily sighed and rubbed at her temples.

"Okay, Marlene, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone," she said softly.

"Of course I won't tell anyone," Marlene promised. "Why would I?" Lily gave her an annoyed look.

"Because you have the biggest mouth in the entire school," Lily answered. Marlene gasped and stared at Lily, incredulously. "Don't deny it, Marlene. Ten seconds after Dorcus kissed Remus at the Christmas party, everyone knew about it."

"Okay, that's true but that wasn't a secret. Neither Dorcus nor Remus said that I couldn't tell anyone," Marlene reminded her.

"True, but I'm still going to warn you, if you tell anybody about me liking James, I will tell Alice that you kissed Frank," Lily remarked.

"Hey!" Marlene exclaimed. "That was an accident." Lily gave her a look. They both knew that Alice wouldn't see it that way. "Fine. I won't tell anyone about you and James. "But you have to talk to James about this, he's waited seven years, he might be thinking about moving on."

"I will," Lily told her. Marlene gave her a skeptical look. "I will talk to him soon. But for right now, I think we're better off being friends. Thanks for listening, Marlene. I let you go back to sleep now." Marlene hugged Lily and Lily left the room, closing the door behind her.

"You can come out now, love," Marlene whispered and Sirius came out from underneath the bed where he had been hiding since they heard footsteps in the hallway coming towards Marlene's room.

"You kissed Frank!" Sirius exclaimed incredulously. "When were you going to tell me about this?" Marlene gave him a glare.

"That's not important, Sirius. What's important is that Lily likes James," Marlene commented. Sirius grinned.

"I know. I can't wait to tell James about this. He'll be ecstatic," Sirius laughed. Marlene's eyes widened.

"Tell James? Have you gone completely mad?" she asked. "Lily will kill us both if we tell him."

"Aw come on, babe. I have to tell James. He's my best mate. He told me that you liked me after Dorcus told him," Sirius commented.

"Dorcus told him that I liked you!" Marlene growled. Sirius chuckled nervously.

"Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have told you that," he said. Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Sirius, just swear you won't tell him," Marlene pleaded. "For me?" She batted her long eyelashes and Sirius groaned.

"Oh all right, I won't tell him. Wow, when did you get so good at the puppy dog eyes?" he wondered with a sigh.

"I had a good teacher," Marlene giggled. Sirius grinned at her and kissed her, wrapping his arms tight around her waist.

* * *

James lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about Jasmine. She had asked him to get some coffee with her after they finished kayaking. James had said no. Jasmine had asked him if that was because he was dating Lily. Of course James couldn't exactly say that they were dating. He told Jasmine that they weren't dating, leaving out the part about him being in love with Lily.

Jasmine gave him her number and told him to call her if he changed his mind. And now James was thinking about it. For nearly seven years, he had chased after Lily but she never showed the slightest interest in him. And now here was a lovely girl who he had so much in common with and who wanted to go out with him.

So why shouldn't he go out with her? He couldn't wait forever for Lily. Besides, Sirius was always telling him that he should get over Lily and now here was his chance. He could get over Lily by dating a girl who was the exact opposite of her.


	5. Dates and Friendships

Alice groaned as sunlight streamed in through the open window, hitting her face. She reached up blindly to grab the curtain and pull it over the window, jostling the pillows that surrounded her on the window seat in the process. Now that the room was suitably dark again, Alice rested her head back on her arms and allowed her heavy eyelids to fall. She was drifting back to sleep when it suddenly hit her that the sun was out, and it was morning.

Alice shot up, looking wildly around the window seat for a letter an owl might have dropped while she had been sleeping. But there was nothing there. Alice sighed and looked up at the blue sky.

"Where are you, Frank?" she murmured even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"Alice, have you been here all night? Again?" Lily asked as she walked down the stairs.

"No," Alice answered not wanting to sound as pathetic as she felt.

Lily raised an eyebrow at her.

"I went to Dorcas' room and talked to her for a while. Okay, for ten minutes, and then I came back here to wait. Don't judge me." Alice stared dejectedly at the floor.

"Alice, are you going to sit around here, waiting for Frank to write to you for our whole vacation, or are you going to have some fun?" Lily asked.

Alice sighed. "I just don't understand why he hasn't written to me," She said sadly. "It's been two days. I'm getting really worried."

Lily studied her friend intently for a few moments. "Okay, Alice, we're all going down to the beach today, please come and join us," She pleaded. "It'll be good for you to get out of the house."

"But what if he owls me and I'm not here," Alice protested. "He'll think I'm ignoring him. And then he'll break up with me."

"Alice, you're being silly. Frank would want you to have fun," Lily told her firmly.

"Maybe you're right. I'll go out for an hour," Alice remarked with a sigh. Lily patted her on the back and gave her an encouraging smile.

A groggy James peered around the doorframe, rubbing his eyes and blinking blearily at the bright sunlight fighting through the living room curtains. He smiled and ran a hand through his already sleep-tousled hair.

"Hey girls, what's up?" James asked curiously.

"Nothing much," Lily answered. "We're just talking about going to the beach this afternoon. Are you coming?"

"Sorry, I can't," James replied apologetically, a somewhat smug expression on his face. "I've got a date."

"A date?" Lily repeated with surprise, her eyes widening.

"A date!" both Sirius and Marlene exclaimed, standing on the bottom steps.

"Yeah, why are you three so horrified?" James questioned, confused by their reaction.

Alice had a feeling she knew exactly why, but she wisely didn't say a word. Instead she took the opportunity to tug the curtains back and search the sky again for her tawny owl.

"Why _is_ Sirius so horrified, Marlene?" Lily inquired crossly, glaring at her friend. Marlene chuckled nervously and took a small step backwards.

"So James, who's the girl?" Alice asked quickly as she tore her gaze from the sky, saving Marlene from Lily's fury.

"Her name is Jasmine," James answered, his eyes distant and a wistful smile turning up the corners of his mouth. "She's this really cute girl, I met at the beach. She's funny, smart and athletic. And she has the cutest-"

"We don't need her measurements," Lily interrupted, annoyed. James looked taken aback at her sharp tone. "I mean who wants pancakes? Because I'm starving."

With that Lily hurried into the kitchen, letting the door swing shut behind her.

"James, I thought you said no to the date," Sirius remarked.

"I did, but you changed my mind," James told him firmly clapping him on the back. Sirius averted his eyes from the two girls who were now glaring at him. "You always said that I needed to get over Lily and now I have my chance. Thanks, mate."

"James, why don't you go help Lily make breakfast while I have a word with Sirius and Marlene," Alice suggested through gritted teeth.

"Okay. I'll talk to you guys later," James remarked, walking into the kitchen.

As soon as James left the room, the two girls rounded on Sirius. "What did you do?" Marlene hissed.

"Nothing, I swear," Sirius told her firmly, throwing his hands up in submission. "I've been saying that he should get over Lily for years. I never thought he'd actually take my advice."

"Well obviously, he did," Alice snapped. "And at the worst moment too. You do realize what needs to happen now, right?"

"Tell James that Lily likes him," Sirius suggested.

"Hex Jasmine," Marlene supplied.

"No and no, we have to spy on James and Jasmine," Alice explained. "As Lily's best friends, we're supposed to learn everything about her enemy."

"Wait a minute, when Remus and I spied on Lily and her date last year, you called us pigs," Sirius reminded her. "And you said that if you ever caught us spying on her again, you would shave my hair and take away Moony's chocolate."

"That was because you tried to sabotage her date," Alice told him. "Marlene and I are just getting details about the enemy."

"Fine, but I can't be part of this. As James' best friend, I have to stand by him," Sirius said smugly, glad to have an excuse not to go.

"Fine, you can just hang out with Lily," Alice remarked.

Sirius' smile faltered. "Just the two of us? What about Remus, Dorcas and Peter?" She asked curiously.

"Peter has a date. Dorcas and Remus are going to check out some old library," Alice explained.

Sirius groaned. Lily and he were not exactly the best of friends.

* * *

An hour later, Sirius and Lily arrived at the beach.

"Look at us," Sirius remarked as Lily and he walked down the beach to find a good spot to put down their blankets. "We're hanging out without our friends. Bet you thought it was going to be awkward and we'd have nothing to talk about." Sirius let out a nervous laugh.

"Yep, it's not awkward at all," Lily agreed with the same amount of nervousness in her voice.

"This is great. We've been talking for… five minutes and we're not getting on each other's nerves at all," Sirius laughed again.

"I didn't think we would," Lily told him with an uneasy smile.

"Well it probably helps that there's no Death Eater for you to stand up for," Sirius joked. Lily glared at him.

"You know what surprises me? That you haven't stuck your tongue down some girls' throat this whole vacation. I guess you're just waiting until Marlene turns her back on you," Lily retorted.

"I knew that you were going to throw that in my face. It was two times," Sirius snapped.

Lily scoffed.

"And who are you to talk? You've been leading James on for years." Sirius countered.

Lily gasped angrily. "How dare you! I haven't led James on at all. He knew perfectly well that I didn't like him," Lily said angrily.

"Then why are you so mad about him dating this Jasmine girl?" Sirius asked. "I think you're jealous. And you know what, Evans? You're being selfish. Because from what I hear, this girl is perfect for him. I bet that she will probably marry him, you will probably end up with Snape and have lots of greasy haired children. Oh bloody hell, are you crying?" Sirius asked worriedly, knowing that James, Marlene, Alice and Dorcas would kill him.

During Sirius' speech, Lily had looked furious. But after Sirius had said "perfect" tears started to glisten in her eyes, and when he said "haired" tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"I'm not crying," Lily told him, wiping her eyes.

Sirius looked at her skeptically.

"Okay, I'm crying, but I don't know why. I shouldn't care that James is dating a girl who is perfect for him. But it's feels like I lost my chance and I'm never going to get another one."

"Did you just call him James?" Sirius questioned bewildered.

"Shut up and hug me, you dolt," Lily sobbed.


	6. Busy Days

Peter smiled blissfully as he walked back to the house. What a wonderful day he'd had. Upon meeting up with Helena, they had spent the afternoon in a little ice cream shop on the edge of town. It was a hole in the wall, really. There was just enough room for the counter and a couple small tables inside, but what it lacked in size it made up for in flavor. Peter had never tasted ice cream so rich and creamy. Helena ordered for them as soon as they arrived, bringing back a small ice cream cone for herself, and after hearing Peter raving over the flavors, had even bought him _two_ sundaes.

They must have talked for three hours. Well, Peter did most of the talking but only because Helena was so interested in Hogwarts. Peter told her about all the adventures the Marauders had there.

Helena seemed very interested when Peter told her where they were staying. She lowered her voice, acting like she had a big secret, as she explained to Peter that there were rumors about the old house. She had heard stories, mostly from her brother, about a famous wizard who hid his most valuable possession in the house.

Peter loved it when Helena talked. Her eyes brightened and she always looked like she was going to burst into a grin in the middle of her sentences. Sometime she did, and it really made her whole face glow. The way her hair kind of curled around her face, and with the bright eyes and all the smiling, she truly looked like an angel. It was really great because all the things she had to say about the hidden treasure were interesting, but Peter was pretty sure she could be talking about the weather and he would enjoy it just as much.

Peter tried asking Helena about her life but Helena said that she would rather listen to his stories because compared to him, she was quite boring. Peter wished she would keep talking, but he couldn't think of a good way to tell her without sounding odd. Instead he just kept talking about the house and asking as many questions as he could think of to make her speak.

* * *

"It could have gone worse," Dorcas remarked as Remus and she entered the living room.

"How could it have possibly have gone worse?" Remus asked, giving her an incredulous look as he dropped, exhausted, onto the couch.

Dorcas sighed. "They could have figured out that I lied about being a werewolf and ate me," Dorcas answered plainly. Remus was not amused, his mouth twisted down into a repulsed grimace. "Sorry, that's not funny."

"No, it's not. I just can't believe how savage they were," Remus snapped. "I can't believe they were actually talking about their latest kill."

"Yeah that wasn't the most pleasant discussion, I have ever heard," Dorcas agreed, wrinkling her nose as she remembered. "But come on, Remus. What were you expecting? For them to be moping around about their conditions like you do?"

"First of all, I do not mope, and second of all, how can you be so calm after hearing them talk about killing people?" Remus questioned.

Dorcas perched on the arm of the couch and smoothed a hand through Remus's hair. "They were talking about people who try to hunt them," Dorcas reminded him. "Look Remus, I agree that they weren't being delicate about this topic but I also heard them talking about the Ministry and the werewolf laws. The Ministry is being really unfair to them. To you."

"I don't care. We're never going back there," Remus huffed.

"Oh yes, we are," Dorcas told him sternly. Remus gave her a bewildered look. "You have always said that no one understands your pain. Now we have found people who do. I don't care how crude they get. You still need to talk to them."

"Why is this so important to you?" Remus wondered.

"Because I want you to feel like you belong. Because I care about you," Dorcas answered softly. Remus smiled at her.

"I'm glad you care about me," he said quietly. Dorcas smiled back at him.

* * *

"So all in all, this wasn't a bad trip," Sirius remarked as Lily and he walked up the beach.

"Yeah, I kind of enjoyed myself," Lily agreed. "And remember, I would really appreciate if you didn't tell…"

"Hey, my lips are sealed," Sirius told her gently. "If you remember not tell Marlene that you know I know because she will kill me."

"It's a deal," Lily said with a small smile, sticking out her hand for him to shake. Sirius smiled back and shook her hand.

"What's a deal?" James asked, curiously as he came up to greet them.

"James, buddy, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked nervously.

"I'm spending my summer here like you guys are," James answered, giving Sirius a weird look. "Did you guys go to the beach alone?" Sirius detected a little bit of jealousy in his friend's voice so he quickly changed the subject.

"So how was your date?" Sirius questioned. Lily frowned but said nothing.

"It was fun," James replied. "But the weirdest things kept happening. First the waitress tripped and dropped our drinks on Jasmine, then a frog landed in Jasmine's hair and then someone set off the sprinklers." Sirius narrowed his eyes. That sounded awfully familiar.

"You know, similar things happened to me and my date last year," Lily said thoughtfully. Sirius' eyes widened.

"I'm getting thirsty. Who wants to go get some butterbeer?" Sirius asked. James and Lily gave him a puzzled look. "Just me then. Okay."

Sirius quickly sped up to the house, where he found Marlene and Alice in the living room.

"I thought you said no sabotage," Sirius remarked.

"We weren't going to, but then she insulted Lily," Alice explained.

"Really? James didn't say…" Sirius began.

"Oh, she didn't do it in front of James," Marlene told him. "We followed her to the bathroom. She was talking to a friend about how James would not stop talking about Lily. Then she said that one date with her would make him forget about 'that stupid redheaded loser.'"

"Oh. Well, I guess I would have sabotaged the date too," Sirius said with a sigh.

"So how did your day go?" Marlene asked sweetly.

"It was okay," Sirius answered, a little too quickly. "Nothing unusual happened. Alice, did Frank owl you yet?"

"No," Alice replied sadly. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I should go to his house and find out what's wrong."

"NO!" Marlene exclaimed. "Alice, have I taught you anything about boys? You can never look needy. So Frank's playing hard to get, you should play hard to get right back. Be strong, Alice, be very strong."

Alice sighed.

"You're right. I shouldn't be sitting here, moping over Frank and feeling sorry for myself. I need to be get out there and have fun," Alice agreed.

"That's my girl," Marlene complimented, patting Alice on the back.

"So what should we do tonight? I'm dying to see a muggle thing called a movie," Sirius inquired.

"A movie sounds nice," Marlene said cheerfully. "There's a theater near town. Let's get everyone in the living room so we can decide what to see."

* * *

After getting Peter, Remus, Dorcas, Lily and James, they all sat in the living room, discussing the kinds of movies they wanted to watch.

"I wanna see a horror movie," Sirius told them.

"No way. Peter couldn't sleep for a month after you told us that horror story about the kids camping near a lake," Remus reminded him. Peter shivered just thinking about it. "How about we see a family comedy?"

"I'm in the mood for something romantic," Marlene remarked.

"We're not watching something a gushy romantic movie," James snapped. "I want something filled with action."

"How about something with fantasy? It would be cool to see how muggles picture our world," Alice suggested.

"Okay, we're going around in circles. Let's just put it to a vote," Lily advised.

Lily and Dorcas sided with Remus so Remus got to pick out the movies. Marlene gave him the newspaper with the movies times and Remus picked Freaky Friday, having read the book. As the sun sank lower in the sky, the friends crowded onto the narrow sidewalk and began making their way to the small theater in the center of town.


End file.
